California Fever

an update on Thomas

Rookie Mama has put up a post on Sam's blog here.  It includes updated information on baby Thomas' condition.  He's doing MUCH better!  YAY!  As the post says, if Sam is released and Thomas needs to stay in the hospital (they're not in Hattiesburg, but in a hospital in Jackson), there's a chance that Sam and Beaux may be able to stay at Ronald McDonald House.  Even so, having to go through all of this away from home is placing some extra financial stress on them.  (They do have insurance, thank God.)  If you'd like to help in any way, please email Rookie Mama at: sara AT wesandsara.com.  And please keep those thoughts and prayers coming!  Thank you!

Trip photos are up on Flickr!

Good lord, I feel like I've been sitting here for HOURS uploading photos...and I didn't upload all of them!  ;)  The Flickr set with our vacation photos is here.  I'm too pooped after all of that uploading to write a long post about our trip, so I'll simply say this...

We spent three nights in Indian Wells (near Palm Springs)...two nights in Sedona, AZ...one night in Springdale, UT (just outside Zion Canyon National Park)...and two nights in Mesquite, NV (a golfing mecca).  The accommodations were all wonderful (thank you, Expedia).  We stopped in Las Vegas on the way back to see my mother, and ended up spending a couple of hours fixing stuff around her place.  (It's a lovely apartment in a senior complex in North Las Vegas.)  Not the way I'd envisioned spending our last day of vacation, but oh well.  Afterwards we took her to Santa Fe Station where we had a great Sunday brunch and did a little gambling.  (It's a nice casino.) 

Jeffrey and I had a FABULOUS time together.  It was truly a wonderful summer vacation.  Can't wait to plan our next trip!  Just hope we won't have to wait until next summer to take one.  ;)

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Please continue to hold Sam and Beaux's baby, Thomas, in your thoughts and prayers (see post below).  Here's hoping all will be well very, very soon.

We're home...and some baby news!

We got home about 2:30 this morning.  We had a wonderful trip.  (We were gone for nine days.)  Today I slept until 11:00 (11:00!!!), then unpacked the car while J continued to sleep (he drove all the way home and did most of the driving the whole trip even though I offered many times to take over).  The rest of the day was spent unpacking and going to the laundromat and getting a bit organized.  As much as I love hotels and traveling, it was awfully nice to sleep in our own bed last night.  I'll try to get a bunch of photos uploaded to Flickr tomorrow and put up a post about our travels. 

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In the meantime, my dear sweet pal Sam had her baby!!!  Thomas was born at 3:21 this morning.  He's healthy, but there are a few little complications, so he's been airlifted to another hospital and Sam was transported there by ambulance.  Rookie Mama has details on her blog--along with a glorious photo of the family! 

Those of you who read here regularly know that Sam is one of my dearest blog-friends.  Please hold Thomas in your thoughts and prayers as Sam and Beaux make their way through Thomas' first days.

hundreds of ways

Mira Nair was in town last night to speak at Mondavi Center.  I skipped that discussion, but before that, she came to the Varsity Theatre (our newly-renovated vintage theatre in downtown Davis that shows only indie films which is only a few blocks from our house) to introduce her film, Monsoon Wedding.  She was, in a word, fabulous.  She's a stunningly beautiful woman and she spoke so eloquently about how she came to make that film and her creative process behind it.  It was made for only a million dollars, and she shot it over two summer months in 2000 because it was her son's summer vacation and she wanted him to be with her.  She said that she and her writing partner wanted to give a "reality check version" of an Indian wedding, since most Bollywood versions are so over the top.  She used very few professional actors, casting mostly family members and people in her community in India--many of whom have gone on to become popular actors and comedians. She explained that the Punjabi people she comes from in Northern India "are the party animals of India"--that they're whiskey-drinking, hard-partying people, and that most Indian weddings are exactly like what's portrayed in the film.  She also talked about how she wanted to interweave many different love stories, and the hesitation she felt about including one plotline about sexual abuse which is still kept very silent in India.  She told of trying set aside that part of the story, and how the film completely fell apart without it.  She said she was surprised by how many people were there to see the film last night, since it's an old one.  She thanked us for coming, and thanked the Varsity for supporting independent film.  (They recently completed a run of her new film, The Namesake.)  I'd seen the Monsoon Wedding once before, but it was a treat to see it again with her backstory in mind.  Along with the minimal budget, she had in mind to shoot it in 30 days, and as the final credits rolled, there was a mention of it:  40 locations in 30 days.  There are scenes from the film woven throughout the final credits and since I was sitting in the front, I didn't realize until I got up to leave that nearly everyone sat through them.  And...she announced that Monsoon Wedding is coming to Broadway!  The team behind Hairspray is collaborating with her on a stage production, and we can expect it to hit the stage in a year or two.  I've been a Mira Nair fan since Mississippi Masala.  I love that film (we own it), and I love how in it she tied Amin's banishment of Asians in Uganda to an interracial love story in the American Gulf Coast.  Mira Nair is an American filmmaking treasure, and we're very lucky to have her.

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Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened.  Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading.  Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

~The Essential Rumi

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When I opened today's Daily Om email, it was about "Hope in Hardship"...

"As difficult as the obstacle plaguing you seems, it is no match for the love of a supportive universe that has been a part of your life since the day of your birth and will be with you forevermore."

Liz is one of my dearest blog-pals, and I've been lucky to have exchanged a few emails with her wonderful mother.  Her Mom has been diagnosed with uterine cancer.  She's having surgery today--a hysterectomy that will also remove a large cyst from one of her ovaries.  Let's be a living example of that Daily Om message for her Mother today.  Let's be a part of her supportive universe.  Please send Liz's Mom your thoughts and good wishes and hopes and prayers, so that she may feel great hope in the face of this hardship.  Liz, I'm holding a powerfully good thought that your Mom comes through her surgery easily, and that on the other side of that door is nothing but good news.  xoxo

A Liar's Party

Betcha can't guess what I did last night...

Yes!  It was finally time to host "A Liar's Party" for Patry Francis!  We had it at the lovely home of my pal, Toni.  (Our place is way too small.)  The photo was courtesy of Bob, Toni's wonderful husband who went upstairs and left us to do our chatty thing.  Patry's husband, Ted, had dropped her at the party and then headed back to their hotel.

I was the only other blogger in attendance--the others are friends from my workplace (junior high).  The bloggers I would have invited all live some distance away, and I know it's hard for people on a weeknight.  I invited 12--seven of us were able to make it. 

From left to right:  me, Kathy (head of our English dept.), Patry, Toni (school nurse), Gina (teaches English and Drama--she recently won a grant for some training at the Globe Theatre in London this summer...our Drama students are currently in rehearsal for "Pirates of Penzance"), Esther (our much-loved former German teacher--she retired at the end of last year), Carolyn (head counselor...Taylor's grandma...Patry's granddaughters sent a gift for Taylor...so sweet!) and Debbie (our inclusion--special ed--teacher).

Toni and Debbie have lived across the street from each other for many years, and have been in a neighborhood book club for nearly as long.  So when I asked, Toni said she'd be happy to host us since her book club has previously hosted other authors.

And just to keep things really cozy...Toni's daughter, Lindsay, will be marrying Carolyn's son, Dan, this August.

This is a warm and wonderful group of women, and I hope that Patry enjoyed her evening with them.  I know that she has a game she somtimes likes to play with these book party groups, but we were so busy peppering her with questions that we never got around to it.  We learned that she likes to write in the mornings.  That she once read in a "Writer's Digest" publication to simply write 3 pages every day, even if one doesn't feel like it--so that's what she does.  About her earlier novels which were not published.  About suggestions her editor made for The Liar's Diary.   About some, um, interesting ways a few readers have responded to the book.  And how her oldest son waited 20 years to collect on a childhood promise.  See, you have to host a party so you can get all the juicy details, too!  ;)

Patry is just as smart and witty and sweet and delightful and wonderful as I'm sure you all imagine her to be.  She and I shared with the group the joys of blogging.  I started to say the highs and lows, but I can't think of a single negative that we mentioned, since we both love it so much.  (I guess the only downside would be that it can be a tad addictive.)  ;)

Patry shipped a box of books to my home late last week and since we all planned to buy books from her, after Jeffrey accidentally opened the box (not reading the label--thinking it was one of his usual Amazon shipments), I grabbed a copy and between Sunday and after work yesterday, devoured it.  (Well, the story, not the actual book.)  It's a page-turner!

And in a sweet twist for me, Patry and Ted spent Monday night in my hometown of Crescent City.  When I spoke to her after work on Monday, they were making their way down the gorgeous Oregon coast.  I had told them that Crescent City would be about halfway between Portland and Davis via the route they had mapped out.  (Laini hosted a party for her on Sunday night.)   So on Monday night Patry and Ted stayed at Hampton Inn & Suites, where old Seaside Hospital used to be located.  That was where my brother and I were both born and where we both had tonsillectomies--me at age 3, him at 12.  So imagine my delight when I phoned her from work yesterday morning and heard her say, "Oh, we're just leaving Good Harvest..."  She said last night that when the cafe staff had asked how they'd heard about Good Harvest, she nonchalantly replied, "I have a friend from Crescent City..."  Good Harvest is where we have breakfast when we're there--good food and great handmade willow furniture.  Patry and Ted had both been very excited to see redwoods for the first time--I told her she'd hit a big bunch of them just south of town, since 101 would take them through Redwood National Park.

The only disappointment about this entire experience was that Patry and I didn't have more time to hang out together. We had a few minutes as I drove her back to her hotel.  This morning she and Ted are off to Corte Madera to visit Book Passage, one of the country's best indie bookstores.  (I saw Natalie Goldberg speak there several years ago).  Her book tour continues in the Bay Area before they fly to Chicago later this week. 

It was a wonderful evening with a wonderful person.

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In Unity Week news...  Unity Week is kicking my butt!  :)  There are three of us on staff who have organized these activities.  We each took the lead on one big project.  My big project was working with the kids on our Darfur committee.  Yesterday was their day to present, which they did during both lunch periods.  They set up a slide show to run onstage in our Indoor Commons, which is also our cafeteria.  But that was just a tease to entice kids to check out their exhibit in our (unused this year) Home Ec room.  I can't post photos here, because that would break my 'no student photos' policy, but their presentation was a huge hit.  They wanted it to feel like night, so they put dark paper over the huge windows and strung a bunch of white lights.  They had a slide show running and built an example of a simple structure a Darfur refugee might have in one of the refugee camps.  They had an information table, where they provided handouts and answered questions.  They also encouraged visitors to their exhibit to write postcards to President Bush to encourage him to take action to protect innocent civilians in Darfur.  They made green ribbons that students and staff could be seen wearing the remainder of the day in solidarity.  And they created a green ribbon paper 'wall' where students could write their sentiments about Darfur on large green paper ribbons which we now have displayed in the school lobby. 

Our school district's school climate coordinator was on-site yesterday and I encouraged him to check out their presentation.  Afterwards, he told me that he'd told the kids he was so impressed that he wants them to take their show on the road--to do their presentation at our sister junior highs.  They were quite excited by that news, and I couldn't be prouder of them.

Today at lunchtime (all three grades have lunch together on Wednesdays) we're staging a cultural fashion show.  We had a dress rehearsal at the end of the schoolday on Monday.  The fashion show committee has pulled together some wonderful outfits for the show--from Pakistan and Ghana and Vietnam and Japan and China and India and Tonga, etc.  And the show is going to open with a special performance by our high school's award-winning Madrigals.  Yours truly will be the commentator, and this morning I'll be helping our decorations committee set the stage for the show.

Monday morning I helped our language tree committee hang their piece in the Indoor Commons.  The kids came up with this concept to show all of the different languages spoken by our students--as based on a language survey they gave to all students last week.

There's also a world map in the Indoor Commons.  Last Friday, every student was given an opportunity (during their P.E. classes) to put a dot on the map indicating the country or state or city they most identify with.

And yesterday during lunch the two girls heading up a hands mural project got students to write on paper hands the nationalities or races they most identify with along with one thought about unity.

Tomorrow is a minimum day so our teachers can join their fellow teachers at their sister schools in articulation meetings.  I'm looking forward to having a nice, quiet afternoon in the office just so I can catch up a little!  :) On Friday, our assembly committee will be doing two shows of their Unity Week assembly.

This weekend?  I plan to sleep.  ;)

Sweetheart

I thought about making a first attempt at a prose poem for Poetry Thursday, but I've spent too much time dinking around now to have time to even think about it.  But head on over there--I'm sure you'll find some good stuff.

Can I just say that I think this guy is the second sexiest man on the planet (to me)?  (Don't worry, Jeffrey knows.)  ;)

When J picked me up at work yesterday, he handed me a bag of Hershey's Limited Edition Cherry Cordial Kisses and said, "Happy Valentine's Day."  To which I responded, "Aw jeez, I don't have anything for you."  (Try not to be bowled over by how utterly romantic we are.)  OHMYGOD.  A kiss...with a cherry cordial inside?  I could easily eat the bag in one sitting.  It's a good thing they are limited edition...I'd probably weigh 400 pounds.  (If you go to that link, do NOT read the nutritional information.)

J had been at my brother's yesterday, helping them do some stuff.  When he picked me up, he muttered something about Chelle mentioning Zak's game.  "Ohmygod!  The game!"  Work has been so crazy, I'd completely forgotten about it.  It was against their strongest opponent--Foothill in Sacramento.  We went straight from my school to their house, where I spent about half an hour petting Dusty (their yellow Lab).  Every time I'd try to stop, he'd bat me with his paw.  He's such a love.  And then Jasmine made her way out from the bedroom and took up a perch atop my lap, so I started giving her some love.  Dusty made a move to try to get in on the petting action again, but Jasmine let him know to back off!  It was her turn!  She cracks me up--Dusty could eat her like an appetizer, but she totally rules the roost.  It was a great game--close and exciting--and Zak played really well.  I was so proud of him, not just because he played so well, but because he's clearly worked very hard on his game.  Baseball (pitching) is his primary sport--he didn't start playing basketball until his Freshman year.  He went from being a reserve on the Freshman team to being the starting center on the J.V. team this year.  And they won.  And to top it off, his girlfriend, Sadie, was voted Sweetheart of their Sophomore class.  They had the ceremony between the J.V. and Varsity games.  And, boy, did that bring back lots of high school memories.  I work at a junior high so, trust me, I'm fully aware of cliques and how kids struggle to be popular and how they can be mean to each other.  We see it daily.  But in that moment, I had to think that it had to feel like a pretty special night for him.  Being a star player on his team that had just won a thrilling game and then seeing his girlfriend in the Sweetheart court.  I know it's corny...but I imagine he'll remember that Valentine's Day for awhile.  :)

Now, before you head anywhere else, go over to Lori-Lyn's and read the post she wrote to celebrate her 38th birthday.  You won't be disappointed, I promise.  And while you're there, wish her a Happy Birthday, will ya?  'Cause lord knows this world is a much better place with Lori-Lyn in it.

to Cache for cash

On Sunday, the sun returned.  I suggested we get out of our teensy little house for a few hours and take a drive.  We went to Cache Creek Casino.  It's a lovely drive from here.  Highway 16 is one of my favorite backroads in California, and it's possible to get from our house in Davis to Cache Creek with only minimal time spent on a freeway.  It's about a 45-minute drive through mostly fields and agricultural areas. 

The only jarring moment came just outside Davis on the western edge of town when we passed a Baptist church.  We saw several people standing by the side of the road holding a huge yellow banner.  I thought maybe they were having a conference or fair of some sort.  But as we grew closer, I could read the huge black letters on the yellow banner:  HOMOSEXUALITY IS SIN.  Jesus.  (And I don't mean that in the biblical sense.)  It's just not something I expect to see in this super-progressive university town on a gorgeous Sunday morning.

The first order of business once we got to the casino was food, since we hadn't eaten yet even though it was mid-day.  There are several restaurants there, but we were in the mood for a late breakfast so we chose the cafe.  Jeffrey and I aren't much for gambling--we never go beyond the nickel slot machines.  But we had a good time, spending about an hour-and-a-half roaming among 5-, 2- and 1-cent slot machines.  And we won enough small jackpots to cover our meals, gas and gambling.  It was a nice little afternoon getaway that didn't end up costing us a dime.

Note to self:  Need more close-by weekend getaways.  It's amazing how much we fall into the rut of just hanging out at home doing barely nothing on the weekends.  I love my power-lounging, but sometimes it helps to get the hell out of Dodge for a few hours.

Monday the rain returned for part of the day.  It was a good day for laying around, and that's exactly what I did. 

Work was crazy yesterday.  One of our Spanish teachers called me during 3rd period and said she had a funny smell in her classroom.  Both the Vice Principal and Principal's Secretary were out yesterday, so I told her I'd let the Principal know.  But she was tied up most of the morning dealing with a discipline issue, so I finally emailed her, and then I went to the classroom to check it out myself.  The teacher had opened all of the windows and had the door propped open, but I could still smell it faintly.  She said she thought it was coming from the heater and so she'd turned the heat down.  After the principal saw my email, she checked it out, too, and then came by and asked me to email the Maintenance folks to get them to check it out ASAP.  That was during 4th period.  At the end of 4th, our 7th and 8th graders have lunch and the 9th graders go to 5th.  I went to a classroom to join the Unity Week committee for an hour-long meeting, spanning the first lunch break and going into part of the next period.  About 45 minutes into that meeting, the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate.  I learned later that the smell had begun to permeate the library and it was there that the alarm got triggered.  The Fire Department was on the scene in no time, and thank god the sun had returned yesterday...because we spent the next hour outside.  As Carolyn returned to her office late yesterday afternoon after her final classroom presentation of the day (we're all about course planning for next year right now), she asked if it was a full moon.  It was that kind of day.

I was starving when J picked me up and had a bit of a headache.  We went straight to a Chinese place in our neighborhood, and I felt better with some food in me.  When we got home, he flipped on the news and was quickly dozing on the couch (Don't we lead a glamorous life?)  I told him I was going to go lie down and read.  I read briefly and then thought maybe a nap was a better idea.  I slept for FIVE HOURS, and when I woke I found a voicemail from one of my teacher friends apologizing for how weird she felt like she'd acted yesterday.  It was just a weird day--everyone was sort of 'off' and the whole vibe was weird.  The highlight of the day had been the hour we spent outside waiting on the fire department to clear out.  Turns out a heating-A/C unit was malfunctioning.  They shut it down and the repair guy arrived before our workday was even over.

I'd like to wish you all a wonderful Valetine's Day!  Today's my girl Jeri's birthday, and I have fond memories of the times we celebrated her birthday together when we both lived in San Francisco.  She's the only blogger pal I have who knew me in 'real' life before my blog-life.  If you're so inclined, pop by Mountain Moxie and wish her a Happy B'day.

The Liar's Diary

I'm kinda crazy busy at work this week, so I'm afraid I don't have a poem for Poetry Thursday today.  The truth is I had no clue how to incorporate mathemetical terms into one (see the prompt post if you don't know what I'm referring to).  I LOATHE math.  :)  But that's okay, because there are more pressing matters at hand...

Patry's novel is being released today!  Run, speedwalk, crawl to your nearest bookstore and check it out!  Getting a book published in this day and age is no easy feat, so you know it has to be good.  I thought about pre-ordering a copy through Amazon, but I wanted the satisfaction of walking into Borders (just a few blocks from our house) after work today and seeing (hopefully) a whole bunch of copies on the shelf and purchasing one in person. 

From the Amazon site:

About the Author
Patry Francis’s poetry and short stories have appeared in the Ontario Review, The Massachusetts Review, the Tampa Review, and The American Poetry Review, among other publications. She is a three-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize and has twice been the recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council grant. The Liar’s Diary is her first novel.  

And you thought she was just a lovely, super-nice, creative blogger.  ;) 

Best wishes to Patry today (I'm so excited for her!)  I hope The Liar's Diary is a big, big success!

2006...A Look Back

sorrows AND joys

Driving back from my nephew's JV basketball game in Dixon last night, I was listening to NPR--to a piano jazz Christmas show.  It was a live concert somewhere and at one point, singer Andy Bey was introduced.  The female MC asked if this (holiday season) is a favorite time of year for him. "No."  They both laughed, and he said what a sad and hard time of year this is for many, especially for those who've lost loved ones.

This is a hard time of year for many of us, routinely.  But it's been an especially hard time for some of us.  So I'd like to dedicate this song to...

Laura, who has lost both of her parents within the past couple of weeks

Darlene, whose son Mark was recently in a bad car accident.  (He's Boho's nephew.)

Taylor, who's paralyzed below her collarbone

Kara, whose mother recently died

Liz Elayne, whose uncle has been diagnosed with cancer

To Meta, whose spirit has touched many of us

To the hundreds of thousands in Darfur who've lost their lives in a violent genocide and to the millions there whose lives are affected by it every day

To all of those who were affected by Katrina and are still struggling to put their lives back together

But with sorrow always comes joy, and we have beautiful gifts to celebrate this season...

Ben!

Julianne!

Rocky!

And Sam's announcement that she's expecting!

Life is always going to hand us pain in some form--we can't escape it, but we can take great comfort in the fact that we've developed this remarkable virtual community that surrounds us in our time of need.  To reach out with a virtual hug, a kind word, a gesture of support.  We have much to celebrate this holiday season through our tears--we can celebrate each other.  I celebrate each and every one of you, and thank you for the gifts you bring to my life every single day.

And as you know, I'm not exactly a religious person, but even I loved this song as a little Catholic girl sitting in Midnight Mass.  Hope you like Sarah's version...

Happy Holidays, friends.